European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
transparency
Citizens’ enquiries to the European Parliament in 2019
Throughout 2019, people from across the EU and the world addressed the European Parliament to request information, express opinions or suggest ideas on a wide range of topics. The Citizens’ Enquiries Unit (Ask EP) provides them with clear answers on the issues they raise. Continue reading
Truth, trust and democracy: in a digital world, is knowledge still power?
Trust and truth have been two sides of the same coin since the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. The words trust and truth originate from the same linguistic root: proto-indo-European -deru, meaning something firm, solid and steadfast – like wood. Continue reading
Lobbying, Parliament & public trust – EU Transparency Register workshop of 10 May 2017
Written by Marie Thiel, Elisabeth Bauer and Irene Vlad (Transparency Unit). On 10 May 2017 a public workshop entitled ‘EU Transparency Register – lobbying, Parliament & public trust’ to exchange best practices and models for lobby regulation at national and EU level took place at the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was hosted by … Continue reading
Regulation of lobbying across the EU
Written by Kristina Grosek and Eulalia Claros, The infographic illustrates in broad terms the differences between Member States’ approaches to regulating lobbying (legislation or soft-regulation), as well as the existence of codes of conduct for lobbyists (either provided for by legislation, or through self-regulation by lobbyists’ organisations), and registers of lobbyists (mandatory or voluntary). Download … Continue reading
EU Transparency Register: bridging the North Atlantic divide
Written by Marie Thiel and Elisabeth Bauer, with Piotr Pielucha The beginning of October marked an historical moment for the EU Transparency Register, with a symbolic ten-thousandth entry recorded on 5 October 2016. Due to the continuing high influx of new registrations, another significant moment came about, this time however on a much more global … Continue reading
EU Lobbying Transparency Public Debate – ‘Have Your Say!’
Written by Lisa Bauer and Marie Thiel, To hear the views of all interested parties on the performance of the current joint Transparency Register for interest groups and its possible evolution towards a mandatory scheme, Parliament Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume and Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans together hosted a conference on Monday 2 May 2016. This is … Continue reading
Nothing to hide: the EU Transparency Register
Written by Elisabeth Bauer and Marie Thiel, Decisions taken by the EU affect millions of European citizens. These decisions must be taken as openly as possible. At the same time, the EU institutions interact with a wide range of groups and organisations representing specific interests. This is a legitimate and necessary part of the decision-making … Continue reading
EU Transparency Register
Written by Marie Thiel and Elisabeth Bauer, [Updated 26 April 2016] Widespread lobbying in the EU institutions has led to criticism regarding the transparency and accountability of the EU’s decision-making process. In response to these concerns, the Parliament set up its transparency register in 1995, followed by the Commission in 2008. The two institutions merged … Continue reading
Tax Transparency [Topical Digest]
Updated on 15 April 2016 Tax transparency has once again hit the headlines with outcry across the world over the leaked ‘Panama Papers’, which highlight that tax avoidance and evasion is practised by individual taxpayers, and not just by multinational enterprises (which were already under scrutiny following the ‘Lux-leaks’ affair). The European Union works actively … Continue reading
Transparency of lobbying at EU level
Written by Gianluca Sgueo Lobbying has become an increasingly prominent issue in the European Union (EU) political and institutional debate over the past 20 years, with many comparing Brussels to Washington DC in this regard. The principal reason for this phenomenon is almost certainly the growing role of the EU as a policy-maker. As the EU … Continue reading
TTIP: EP reviews EU-US trade negotiations
The negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) continue to be of major concern to many citizens. MEPs have already warned that they would not approve the agreement at any cost and are currently working on recommendations to the European Commission on the negotiations for the EU-US trade deal. Update Please have a … Continue reading
EP-Commission Joint Transparency Register
The European Transparency Register was set up in June 2011 and is operated jointly by the European Parliament and the European Commission. The Council of the European Union supports this initiative, although it does not participate in the register for the time being. The aim of the register is to offer citizens a fully transparent … Continue reading
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: state of play
In 2003, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched as a voluntary multi-stakeholder initiative for the extractive industries, bringing together governments, industry and civil society. Its main objective has been to create a global transparency standard which allows light to be shed on all payments made by extractive-industry companies to governments of resource-rich developing … Continue reading
Review of the European Transparency Register
The joint European Transparency Register, which came into effect in June 2011, builds on experience gained with the previous Parliament and Commission registers. The Register is designed as a “one-stop-shop” for interest representatives and an unofficial directory of “lobby contacts” with the EU institutions. By June 2013, around 5 700 organisations, mostly based in Brussels, had … Continue reading
Lobbying the EU institutions
Establishing a precise definition of lobbying is not simple. The definitions used range from very narrow to very wide approaches. This makes it complex to determine statistics on lobbying organisations active in Brussels for which no precise numbers can be provided. Lobbying at EU level has very specific characteristics. It can be assessed on both … Continue reading
Conflicts of interest in public administration
With the financial crisis, “conflict of interest” has become a buzzword. Not a day passes without the press uncovering another case of unethical behaviour from holders of public office. The introduction of new ethical rules and standards has become a political topic. But what is exactly a conflict of interest? Its definition is not simple … Continue reading
European Transparency Register
Efforts to ensure proper transparency in EU policy-making are a relatively recent phenomenon. Although the European Parliament (EP) has had a register of lobbyists for more than 15 years, registrants did not need to provide detailed information on themselves and their clients. An EP report on the Commission’s proposed voluntary register in 2008 called for … Continue reading
Download the EPRS App
